Unknown Confederate Soldier

Have you ever hiked through the Blue Ridge Mountains in Carolina and stumbled across a forgotten gravesite? Where the head stones stand alone worn by wind, rain and time? Standing there for so long with no map that marks their location? Well I have. Though the story is long and I only vaguely remember the details, I will let you hear it just the same.

I set my hiking stick down against a rock, as a stare of confusion exited my eyes. I saw graves. They where old and worn but the words and letters where still legible in the rugged rock. As I began to walk around, my hand barely brushed each headstone as I passed. As if to announce to the brittle human bones cradled by the red clay I had arrived. A single headstone caught my eye. It stood out. It was not facing the valley like the others, but a rocky wall.

Soon, curiosity got the best of me and I slowly paced toward grave. What I saw in that marble stone, struck me like a brick. It took me a moment to regain my composer as I read, "Unknown Confederate Soldier." I wondered...who was this man? Did he have a family? Was he just a boy who carried a drum? Did he fight to his death or did he die from infection, from a stray bullet. Has he been forgotten? I shuttered as I asked myself, was he one of few men that stood over the body of his brother; and if the bullet that resides in his chest came from his brothers rifle? Only because one wore a coat of gray and the other Yankee blue?

Was he a farmer or from the city? What did he think he was fighting for? States Rights, Slavery or did he have his own agenda in mind? Only a Higher Power and the red Carolina clay knows those answers now.

I sighed and decided that I should make my way back home. I picked up my hiking stick and began to walk away with a heavy heart and a wondering mind. I shivered as a brisk mountain wind blew and ruffled the leaves, making them look like waves on the sea. I traveled away from that mountain cemetery and continued my journey; humming Dixie, to a new adventure... unknown.

by Sabrina Stidham